Aunkie's Farm

The announcement that "we are going to Aunkie's" always brought excitement to the family.

Aunkie [Ruth Annis Stoddard, Grammy’s sister, Nenna’s aunt] and Uncle Fred owned a dairy farm in Bowdoin Maine. It was a long ride in our old station wagon, but we kept it interesting by playing the “candid camera” game. Wes would sit in the back window with an 8mm movie camera. We would wave and make faces and act strange to following or passing cars, then flash a sign that said “Smile, you’re on candid camera” (a popular TV show in the 60’s, maybe the original “reality” show) and watch how people reacted to it. There was of course the Volkswagen game – everyone picked a color and counted how many they spotted along the way, first one to 21 wins. Yellows (very rare) were worth 7 points – all others 1. Last option, the alphabet game – first to spot all letters in order (no sharing letters – find your own, and you had to point out the word on the sign/license plate as proof) wins.

Eventually we would turn into the long driveway that led past the cow barn on the left and up to the house. There was a hay barn where we crawled through the bales and rearranged them to make paths, tunnels, and forts. There was electric wire fencing around the pasture behind the house, cow patties in the field, woods and water behind the pasture. Red Dust the horse roamed the pasture. He was an imposingly large stud from Oklahoma who occasionally would charge little kids who annoyed and provoked him. Aunkie and Fred never had children, but did take in a “ward of the state” who seemed to enjoy having similar aged visitors to show around and get to share some of the daily work load. In the morning I would be sent out with a woven straw basket to gather eggs, finding the ones in the coop and on the ground. The hens weren’t too particular where they layed the eggs, but the rooster was particular as to who was allowed in (and it wasn’t little kids!) so you had to be quick. It was well worth the effort when Aunkie and Mom cooked up a delicious smelling breakfast of eggs & bacon & pancakes. We kids didn’t actually get up before dawn to help with the morning milking (Dad, being an old Peaceful Meadows Farm hand pitched in), but at some point in time we did get a chance to try hand-milking a cow if we were brave enough.

After a number of years and a barn fire, Aunkie and uncle Fred had a brainstorm idea – sell the farm, but keep the land across the street and build a camp ground. We got to get a sneak preview on one visit – bulldozers were bulling (dozing doesn’t sound right) along clearing the area where the man-made pond would be. The engineers knew that there were springs to fill the pond, but badly underestimated how fast. The trees to the south end never did get cleared out in time, as the bulldozers almost didn’t get out in time! Aunkie and Fred downsized to a mobile home, but built a recreation hall, a boat house & snack bar, grassy camp sites, docks and a diving board. Across the pond were three A-framed chalets for rent. Stoddards Campground was in business. This was more exciting than camping at “The Pond”, what with all of the facilities to amuse us. We could canoe around the trees at the end of the pond, fish, dive, climb on the old farming equipment that was scattered around the property, buy candy bars, watch the square dancers at night (Aunkie and Fred were avid square dancers and hosted dances in the rec hall).

One summers day cousin Tommy, Laurie and I went boating across the pond. After exploring around the A-frames we decided to race back to the boat. Laurie and I were 1st and 2nd and started to push off. Tom took a running jump off the dock, but didn’t quite make it (well, one foot made the boat, just not enough to make it into the boat - he made the water just fine). We gleefully rowed away from our swearing crying cousin – who, left in his despair, went into hiding. Hours later when grownups realized he was nowhere to be found, the search party was organized. Eventually he was discovered – back on the right side of the pond, hiding in a hay wagon, still ticked off and Laurie and I.

In the winter we were allowed to try the snowmobiles in the woods across the pond. I wasn’t quite big enough yet to drive one, so I only got to ride on the back with cousin Skip.Later, when Uncle Fred passed away, Aunkie sold the campground to friends (Earl & Barbie) and moved across the pond into a new trailer. Occasionally some of us would visit - but we were older, she was older, the camp wasn’t ours to have the run of. Escalating insurance costs closed the campground, but the memories and the dream to someday own one remain.

http://maps.yahoo.com/index.php#mvt=h&q1=bar-b%20circle,%20Bowdoin,%20Me,%20us&trf=0&lon=-69.939255&lat=44.026859&mag=2&env=F

On the map, the farm house is at the end of Rocky Ridge Lane. The campground was where is now labeled Stoddard Pond Road, Hains Drive and Bar-B circle (on the west shore). Aunkies trailer was in the field across the pond, the A-frames in the woods just south of her trailer (on the east shore)

Ruth Stoddard is now buried on Deer Island.